Longitudes

Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.

2 June 2012: Book launch and exploration of former Amikejo

 Mon, Jun 18 2012
On June 2, after having visited Manifesta 9, we took the route towards the Belgian city of Kelmis-La Calamine, nearby the German and Dutch border, where we planned to launch the 'Amikejo' publication (Mousse Publishing, 2012) later that day.
Entrance to Kelmis-La Calamine. Trying to match today with the archive material included in the publication.

"The International Office for Travelling Merchants (‘Senpaga Internacia Oficejo por Komerco-Vojagxistoj’) was located in the Bergerhoff Hotel." (Hotel Bergerhoff was located on Luikerstraat, formerly Hasardstraat, in the place which today accommodates the ‘Select’ Café in Kelmis.)" in Ryszard Żelichowski, "Neutral Moresnet and Amikejo – The Forgotten Children of the Congress of Vienna", one of the texts in 'Amikejo' (Mousse Publishing, 2012. Edited by Latitudes). 

"There were as many as 135 registered Esperantists in a population then numbering four thousand. The Esperantists enjoyed the right to have two free Esperanto lessons in a primary school on Kerkstraat, which was a present to the city from the Vieille Montagne mining company. [Mr Charles] Schriever gave four lessons of Esperanto a week for children in his house on Kapelstraat, where there was a book shop with literature in Esperanto. The house also functioned as an office for the local Esperanto group and the venue for its meetings. The Esperantists’ guest houses were marked with a green star on their facades and the caption ‘Esperanta Gasttablo’; some of them survive to this day. 

What is now Park Hotel in Kelmis, built in 1843, was once the Vieille Montagne Director’s villa. Situated in a beautiful private park and with a huge ball-room, it was presented to the Esperantists by Charles Timmerhaus, the penultimate Director of the company, in 1907." in Ryszard Żelichowski, "Neutral Moresnet and Amikejo – The Forgotten Children of the Congress of Vienna", one of the texts in 'Amikejo' (Mousse Publishing, 2012. Edited by Latitudes). 

Finding our way around Kelmis-La Calamine. 
 Welcome to Kelmis–La Calamine.
Façade of the Geuldalmuseum, Göhltalmuseum or Musée de la Vallée de la Gueule (how confusing) on Maxst. 9, Kelmis/Neu-Moresnet, Belgium. Info here. A copy of the publication 'Amikejo' (Mousse Publishing, 2012. Edited by Latitudes) was donated to the museum's archive on our visit.
 Detail of the topological map of the area. In red the Drielandenpunt, towards Aachen, where we'd be going after visiting the museum.
Map of the triangular-shapped territory of Neutral Moresnet (Amikejo) in yellow and green.
First floor: Introduction to Neutral Moresnet, the first Esperanto state. Those who spoke Esperanto wore a green star (verda stelo). In the picture avid Esperantists Dr. Wilhelm Molly and french professor Gustave Roy, who in 1908 founded the first esperanto state (Amikejo, place of friendship in Esperanto) in Neutral-Moresnet. Summary of its history here.
 Wonderful panels explaining the history of Amikejo, its streets, founders, borders, flag, postcards, maps, stamps, coins, certificates, letters, lyrics of the anthem, coat of arms...
One of the original border markers.
Views of Kelmis–La Calamine and its surroundings.
Flora and fauna of the mining area.
All sorts of graphics and mineral samples of the Limburg mining area.
Stone and mineral samples displayed on pink silk, on yellow and baby blue.
Driving towards Vaals and the Drielandenpunt and going under the viaduct.
Arrived. "The Vaalserberg is also the location of the tripoint between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and its summit is therefore referred to as Drielandenpunt ("Three-Country Point") in Dutch, or Dreiländereck ("Three-Country Corner") in German, or Trois Frontières ("Three Borders") in French." (from Wikipedia).
 A small mention of Neutral Moresnet (1815–1919, which in 1908 changed its name to Amikejo). Between this period, the location was a quadripoint, bordering also Neutral Moresnet. See progress of the borders here.
The Drielandenpunt today.
Vaalserberg ("Mount Vaals") is 322.7 metres hill and the highest point in the European part of the Netherlands. It used to be like this.
Visitors reading about the drienlandenpunt's history and geographical situation.
 
 Tower from where one can observe Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium from on high.
Behind the publication the land where Amikejo was. This might be better understood here.
The 'Amikejo' book resting on the Drielandenpunt (the apex of the triangle-shaped borders of what was Amikejo). The green lines mark the borders of Germany (whole top), The Netherlands (triangle to the left) and Belgium (to the right). 
 All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
 2012, Amikejo, belgium, Border, collaboration, Germany, Geuldalmuseum, latitudes, Mousse Publishing, Neutral Moresnet, Publication, The Netherlands, tour
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RECUERDA: Presentación de la publicación 'Amikejo': Martes 22 Mayo, 20h en Múltiplos (c/ Lleó 6, 08001 Barcelona)

 Thu, May 17 2012

NOTA DE PRENSA

Presentación de la publicación 'Amikejo' editada por Mousse Publishing en colaboración con MUSAC.

Martes 22 Mayo, 20h
Múltiplos (c/ Lleó 6, 08001 Barcelona)

Presentación a cargo de Fermín Jiménez Landa (artista) y Latitudes (editores y comisarios del ciclo expositivo 'Amikejo').

La publicación concluye el ciclo de exposiciones 'Amikejo', que a lo largo del 2011 ha incluído muestras de Pennacchio Argentato; Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum; Uqbar (Irene Kopelman & Mariana Castillo Deball y Fermín Jiménez Landa & Lee Welch en el Laboratorio 987, el espacio proyectual del Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC). (+ info...)

El volumen incluye textos sobre cada proyecto escritos por los comisarios del ciclo, así como reimpresiones de Giorgio Agamben ("Notas sobre el gesto", 1996) y Georges Perec (extractos de "Especies de espacios y gestos Otras Piezas", 1974 ), vistas de las exposiciones y biografías de los artistas participantes.
 

Además cuenta con una serie de ensayos de académicos y científicos especialmente escritos para la ocasión:

Peter Osborne (Profesor de Filosofía moderna y director del Centro de investigación de filosofía europea moderna de la Kingston University London) con el texto ‘Fragmentos del futuro': Notas sobre el espacio proyecto" que se centra en peculiar idea de la 'sala de proyectos', espacio que se caracteriza por ser total en su idoneidad para un determinado tipo de temporalización: la temporalización del proyecto. ¿Cuál es su distintiva espacialización?, Y ¿cómo le afecta la codificación específicamente artística de un proyecto?.

Ryszard Zelichowski (Profesor y Director de Investigaciones Científicas en el Instituto de Estudios Políticos de la Academia Polaca de Ciencias) contribuye con el texto "Neutral Moresnet y Amikejo - Los niños olvidados del Congreso de Viena" ofrece una visión general de cómo Moresnet Neutral (el estado rebautizado como 'Amikejo' en 1908) llegó a existir.

Theo Beckers (Ex-profesor de Estudios de Ocio de la Universidad de Tilburg y en la actualidad miembro del cuerpo docente del Centro de Sostenibilidad de Tilburg y profesor visitante de la Academia china de ciencias)** escribe el texto "El tiempo libre. Auge y caída de un proyecto social", en el que rastrea la relación de la sociedad occidental con el trabajo y el tiempo, desde Séneca el Joven, a través del auge de las fábricas y de los 'Principios de Administración Científica' (1911) de Frederick Winslow Taylor, hasta la actual confusión hoy en día entre trabajo y ocio.

Menno Schilthuizen (Científico de investigación en NCB Naturalis, Cátedra para la biodiversidad de los insectos en la Universidad de Groningen y Profesor asociado en la Universidad de Leiden) escribe "Sobre las imágenes especulares en la naturaleza: cómo formas idénticas pueden ser totalmente distintas", principio que se refleja en la exposición del dúo Uqbar entorno a la quiralidad: en animales y plantas asimétricas, a veces ambas formas especulares existen lado a lado, pero a veces sólo existe una de ellas y el otro es "prohibido".


Título: Amikejo
Edita: Latitudes
Publica y distribuye: Mousse Publishing en colaboración con MUSAC
Fecha publicación: Abril 2012
Formato: 22.5x15.5cm, 216 págs, tapa dura
Idioma: inglés/español
Distribuye: Mousse Publishing
ISBN: 9788896501832
Precio: 26 Euros
Compra online

La publicación estará disponible durante la presentación.

Múltiplos es una librería y distribuidora independiente de Barcelona especializada en libros de artistas.


All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
 Amikejo, Barcelona, Fermin Jiménez Landa and Lee Welch, Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum, Mousse Publishing, MUSAC, Múltiplos, Pennacchio Argentato, Uqbar (Mariana Castillo Deball and Irene Kopelman)
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SAVE THE DATE: Presentation of the publication 'Amikejo' with artist Fermín Jiménez Landa. Tuesday 22 May, 20h at Múltiplos, Barcelona

 Tue, May 8 2012
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org

Latitudes will present the publication together with 'Amikejo' artist Fermín Jiménez Landa, who will discuss the project presented together with Lee Welch for the final exhibition of the cycle. Jiménez Landa will discuss one of the works, 'Himno Nacional' (2011), in which a marching band was commissioned to compose and play a new national anthem. Composed in the most archaic tradition, markedly romantic, military and patriotic, the anthem enacted a parodic attempt to reach a futile objective: the conquering of a small island in the Aegean Sea through invasion-by-sound.

The publication accompanies the cycle of four exhibitions by Pennacchio Argentato (29 January–3 April 2011); Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum (9 April–12 June 2011); Uqbar (Irene Kopelman & Mariana Castillo Deball) (25 June–11 September 2011); Fermín Jiménez Landa & Lee Welch (24 September 2011–15 January 2012) that took place at the Laboratorio 987, the project space of MUSAC, León, thoughout 2011. (+ info...) 

Editor: Latitudes 

Publisher & Distribution: Mousse Publishing 

Format: 22.5 x 15.5cm, 216 pp, hardcover 

Texts: Giorgio Agamben, Theo Beckers, Latitudes, Peter Osborne, Georges Pérec, Menno Schilthuizen, Ryszard Zelichowski 

Language: English and Spanish 

ISBN: 9788896501832 
Price: 26 Euro 

The publication will be available for purchase during the presentation. 
Múltiplos is an independent bookshop that specialises in artists publications.

 Amikejo, Barcelona, Book Launch, Fermín Jiménez Landa, Laboratorio 987, Mousse Publishing, MUSAC, Múltiplos
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FAQ: Where can I find the publications edited by Latitudes?

 Sun, Apr 22 2012
We often receive enquiries from folks interested in purchasing our publications. As editors (or contributors) we only hold a few copies, which over the years have been mostly entirely gifted to colleagues and donated to expand institutional archives.

MACBA’s Centre d'Estudis i Documentació (MACBA Study Centre) and The Banff Centre Library (Banff, Canada) hold reference copies of all of our publications – including the 2006 publication 'Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (out of print); exhibition catalogues such as Amikejo (2011), 'Greenwashing. Environment: perils, promises and perplexities' (2008) and The Last Newspaper (2010), the monograph 'Lara Almarcegui, Projects 1995–2010’ (2010) publications accompanying projects such as Ignasi Aballí's Nothing or Something (2009), Simon Fujiwara's Museum of Incest (2009), Mataró Chauffeur Service (2010), Campus (2011) or Portscapes' (2010) limited edition which includes Jan Dibbets' DVD with his commissioned film '6 hours tide object with correction of perspective' (1969–2009); exhibition booklets of the exhibition 'Exposition International...' at Meessen de Clercq in Brussels, and that dedicated to Lawrence Weiner 2008 exhibition at Fundació Suñol.

 MACBA's library also holds two further references: a recording of the conversation we organised as part of our #OpenCurating research with Dia Art Foundation Curator, Yasmil Raymond in 2013, later published as the #7 in the download-free edition; and Charley Independents, the issue that appeared coinciding with our participation in the second iteration of the festival 'No Soul for Sale' launched at TATE Modern in 2010. 

Below is a list of all our publications and links to the distributors from where you can purchase them:

'Amikejo' (Mousse Publishing, 2012)
+ info on the exhibition series.

'Lara Almarcegui, Projects 1995–2010' (Archive Books, 2011/12)
Available via Archive Books (Berlin)
+ info on the publication
 
Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer, 'United Alternative Energies: Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller' (The Århus Art Building, 2011)
+ info on the exhibition

Martí Anson and Latitudes,'Mataró Chauffeur Service' (Save As...Publications, 2011)
Available via La Central (stores in Barcelona & Madrid)
+ photos 
+ info on the project

'The Last Newspaper' (Latitudes & The New Museum, 2010)
Available via Motto Distribution (Berlin) and La Central (stores in Barcelona & Madrid). Special edition (in the box) available via the New Museum store (New York)
+ photos
+ info on the exhibition

'Portscapes' (SKOR / The Port of Rotterdam, 2009)
Available via Motto Distribution (Berlin) and La Central (stores in Barcelona & Madrid)
+ photos 
+ info on the commissioning series

Simon Fujiwara, 'The Museum of Incest' (Archive Books, 2009)
Available via Archive Books (Berlin) and La Central (stores in Barcelona & Madrid)
+ photos
+ info on the exhibition
'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' (The Bookmakers Ed. / Archive Books, 2008)
+ photos
+ info on the exhibition

Three of our earlier publications are out of print:
'Land, Art. A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (Arts Council England & Royal Society of Arts, 2006)
Out of print. Available for consultation at MACBA's library.
+ photos
+ info on the publication
UOVO #14 (The Bookmakers Ed., 2007)
Out of print. Available for consultation at MACBA's library.
+ photos
+ info on the publication

Ignasi Aballí, 'Nothing, or Something' (Today Art Museum, 2009)
+ photos
+ info on the exhibition

 –
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
 Amikejo, Archive Books, Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller, Greenwashing, Ignasi Aballí, Lara Almarcegui, Mataró Chauffeur Service, Mousse Publishing, Portscapes, Save As..., Simon Fujiwara, The Last Newspaper
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Mousse Publishing and MUSAC release the publication 'Amikejo' edited by Latitudes

 Tue, Apr 10 2012
 Publication in front of MUSAC's façade, León. Photo: Carlos Ordás.

The publication concludes the 2011 exhibition cycle 'Amikejo' curated by Latitudes, which included exhibitions by Pennacchio Argentato; Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum; Uqbar (Irene Kopelman & Mariana Castillo Deball and Fermín Jiménez Landa & Lee Welch at the Laboratorio 987, the project space of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC).

Inside the publication: section dedicated to Pennacchio Argentato.

As advanced in previous posts, the publication includes essays by:  

Peter Osborne (Professor of Modern European Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University London) text "‘Fragments of the future’: Notes on project space" centres on the idea of ‘project space’ as a peculiar one insofar as it characterizes a type of space wholly by its appropriateness for a particular kind of temporalization: the temporalization of the project. What is the distinctive spatialization corresponding to this? And how is it affected by the specifically artistic coding of a project?; 

Ryszard Żelichowski (Professor and Director for Scientific Research at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences) text "Neutral Moresnet and Amikejo – The Forgotten Children of the Congress of Vienna" offers an overview of how Neutral Moresnet (the state 'renamed' Amikejo in 1908) came into existence; 

Pages with Ryszard Zelichowski's essay on the history of Neutral Moresnet/Amikejo.

Theo Beckers (Former Professor of Leisure Studies at Tilburg University and currently faculty member of the Tilburg Sustainability Center and Visiting Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) text "Free time. The rise and fall of a social project" traces western society’s relation to work and time, from Seneca the Younger, through the rise of the factory and Frederick Winslow Taylor's 'The Principles of Scientific Management' (1911), to today's blurring of labour and leisure; 

Pages with Theo Beckers' essay.

Menno Schilthuizen (Research scientist at NCB Naturalis, an endowed chair for Insect Biodiversity at the University of Groningen and an Associate Professor at Leiden University) contributed a text "On Mirror Images in Nature: How Identical Forms Can Be Completely Different" reflects on Uqbar's exhibition centered on chirality: on how in asymmetric animals and plants, sometimes both mirror-image forms exist side by side, but sometimes only one exists, the other being "forbidden"; 
 
Pages dedicated to Uqbar and to Prof. Dr. Menno Schilthuizen's essay.
as well as texts on each project by exhibition curators Latitudes, reprints by Giorgio Agamben ('Notes on Gesture', 1996) and Georges Perec (excerpts from "Species of Spaces and Other Pieces Gesture", 1974), installation views and biographies of the participating artists.

Pages with Georges Perec's reprint.
Pages with installation views of Pennacchio Argentato's exhibition.
Pages with spanish translations.

More info on the exhibition series, and photos of the shows by Pennacchio Argentato, Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum, Uqbar (Irene Kopelman & Mariana Castillo Deball) and Fermín Jiménez Landa & Lee Welch (see performance)

'Amikejo' publication, beginning to end. Photos: Mousse Publishing

Title: Amikejo
Edited by: Latitudes
Publisher & Distributor: Mousse Publishing
Format: 22.5x15.5cm, 216 pp., hardcover
Language: English and Spanish
Publication date: April 2012 
ISBN: 9788896501832
Price: 26 Euros

 2012, Amikejo, Fermin Jiménez Landa and Lee Welch, Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum, Laboratorio 987, Mousse Publishing, MUSAC, Pennacchio Argentato, Uqbar (Mariana Castillo Deball and Irene Kopelman)
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Further update: Contents of the forthcoming publication 'Amikejo' – Available in April 2012

 Wed, Dec 21 2011
We are currently finalising and proof-reading the 'Amikejo' publication (see previous posts here and here), which concludes the year-long exhibition cycle at the Laboratorio 987, MUSAC (Fermín Jiménez Landa & Lee Welch's show is on view until 15 January 2012). The volume will be available in Spring 2012 and will be distributed by Mousse Publishing.

Below an excerpt of Theo Beckers's essay 'Free time: The rise and fall of a social project', commissioned by 'Amikejo' artists Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum to complement the publication section dedicated to their multi-part project 'Producing time in between other things' (2011), which revolves around the changing values of labour and property:


"Have you ever heard the story of the African fisherman? In the early light of dawn, he would set out to sea in his little boat, fish for a few hours, return to port, sell his catch and then spend the rest of the day in the shade of a tree on the beach, contemplating the meaning of life and other pleasant thoughts. An economist from the World Bank appeared one day and asked him why he didn’t take advantage of all that spare time by fishing longer, and going further out to sea with a larger boat. This would bring in more fish and thus more profit. In the long run, this would enable the fisherman to buy more and even bigger boats, and even hire people to do the work for him. Eventually, he could make so much money that he wouldn’t need to work anymore and could afford to lie on the beach the whole day. At which the fisherman laughed and asked the economist, “Why would I go through all that trouble?” The history of Western society’s relationship with time clearly illustrates, however, that it is the economist who had the last laugh, not the fisherman."

Theo Beckers was Professor of Leisure Studies at Tilburg University and is now on the faculty of the Tilburg Sustainability Center, the Netherlands, and Visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. Translated from the Dutch by Klaas van Gorkum.

Further publication details:



Title | Título 

'Amikejo'



Editor | Edita 

Latitudes



Publisher & Distributor | Publica y distribuye

Mousse Publishing and MUSAC



Format | Formato 

22,5x15,5cm, 216 pp., hardcover
 


Language | Idiomas 

English/Spanish

 

Editorial Coordination | Coordinación editorial

Latitudes and Carlos Ordás
 


Production | Producción

Bruna Roccasalva 

Graphic design | Diseño gráfico

Studio Mousse — Marco Fasolini, Fausto Giliberti, Andrea Novali, Francesco Valtolina
 
 

Texts | Textos

Giorgio Agamben, Theo Beckers, Latitudes, Prof. Peter Osborne, Georges Perec, Prof. Dr. Menno Schilthuizen, Ryszard Zelichowski
 

Translation | Traducción

Marzena Beata Guzowska (Polish—English); Klaas van Gorkum (Dutch—English); e-verba (English—Spanish)
 
   

Copy-editing | Correcciones

Latitudes

Johanna Bishop
English proof-reading of Ryszard Zelichowski’s text (unabridged version) Martin Blaszk
 
   

Distribution | Distribución

Mousse Publishing
 
 

Printing and binding | Impresión y encuadernación

Grafiche Artigianelli, Brescia
 
   

Print-run | Tiraje

1,200 copies
  


ISBN

9788896501832
 2012, Amikejo, catalogue, Fermin Jiménez Landa and Lee Welch, Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum, Mousse Publishing, MUSAC, Pennacchio Argentato, Uqbar (Mariana Castillo Deball and Irene Kopelman)
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Details of the forthcoming 'Amikejo' exhibition catalogue published by Mousse Publishing

 Thu, Oct 6 2011
Poster of the exhibition cycle. Designed by Latitudes.


We are now editing the 'Amikejo' final publication to be released by Mousse Publishing in Spring 2012. The 200-page-publication will include essays by:

Peter Osborne (Professor of Modern European Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University London);
Ryszard Żelichowski (Professor and Director for Scientific Research at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences);
Theo Beckers (Former Professor of Leisure Studies at Tilburg University and currently faculty member of the Tilburg Sustainability Center and Visiting Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences);
Prof. Dr. Menno Schilthuizen (Research scientist at NCB Naturalis, an endowed chair for Insect Biodiversity at the University of Groningen and an Associate Professorship at Leiden University)

amongst others, as well as texts on each exhibition by Latitudes.

In the meantime some images of the exhibitions on Latitudes' flickr, including the final exhibition 'Amikejo: Fermín Jiménez Landa & Lee Welch', on view at the Laboratorio 987, MUSAC, until 15 January 2012. More soon!




All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)

 Amikejo, Fermin Jiménez Landa and Lee Welch, Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum, Laboratorio 987, Mousse Publishing, MUSAC, Pennacchio Argentato, Uqbar Foundation (Mariana Castillo Deball and Irene Kopelman)
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